The Best and Worst States in the Country to Go on Maternity Leave

This Friday marks the 23rd anniversary of the implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the national law that grants 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees (those who work at companies with more than 50 employees and who have worked at said company for at least 12 months) who need to care for their children or other family members. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much major federal legislation designed to support working families (ahem, paid leave, affordable childcare) since. This despite the fact that nearly half of the American workforce is made up of women, and they have become primary breadwinners in 40 percent of families with children under age 18. It’s an oft-repeated stat that never gets less depressing: The United States is the only “high-wealth country” in the world that fails to provide paid leave to new mothers. (If we have to count small victories, at least paid leave is part of Hillary Clinton’s campaign platform?)

In the absence of major legislation at the federal level, whether or not employees get paid family leave after the birth or adoption of a child, or whether there are laws in place to protect their right to take extra bathroom breaks or breast-feed at work, is contingent upon which state they live in. A new state-by-state analysis of working-family-focused policies by the National Partnership for Women and Families finds that while some strides are being made at the state level, 37 states receive grades of “C,” “D,” or “F,” the latter for 12 states that have failed to enact a single workplace policy to help expecting or new parents since the passage of FMLA.

“Twenty-three years after the country took its first major step to help people manage job and family by implementing a national unpaid family and medical leave law, our new study reveals that people in too few states are guaranteed access to paid leave and other workplace protections they urgently need,” said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families in a statement. “At this time when women are both caregivers and breadwinners, and when voters want and need supportive workplace policies, too many lawmakers are letting them down.”

Read on for the best and worst states for family leave and other family-friendly work policies.

The Best

California is theonly state to earn an “A” grade: California became the first state in the nation, in 2002, to enact a paid family leave law, granting employees 55 percent of their earnings for up to six weeks. (Beginning in 2018, workers will receive up to 70 percent of their income.) California also offers job-protected paid sick days, pregnancy accommodations (such as lifting lighter loads, carrying a water bottle, or extra bathroom breaks), and protections for nursing mothers’ rights at work. Still, the study notes that even the best state in the country can do better by adding job protection to its paid leave policy.

New York and Washington, D.C., get an “A-”:New York gets points for passing laws that guarantee paid family leave (beginning in 2018, “eligible private sector workers” will receive eight weeks paid leave; by 2021, it will rise to 12 weeks). D.C. is commended for passing paid family leave for government employees (they’re eligible for up to eight weeks paid leave); 16 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for private employees (a month more than the standard FMLA); pregnancy accommodations; and a nursing mother’s rights law.

Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island received grades of “B+”:Employees in these states are eligible for policies including paid sick days, paid medical leave for pregnancy-related disabilities (such as preterm labor risk or gestational diabetes), and pregnancy or nursing accommodations. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Vermont have also taken steps on behalf of working parents with FMLA expansions, paid sick days or other family-friendly policies, earning them a “B” grade.

The Average

Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Maryland received “C” grades for making some accommodations for working families. In Louisiana, for example, a private sector worker can take up to four months leave after childbirth or pregnancy disability, but the law does not state that a worker’s job is protected during the leave. Some “C” states also offer policies including pregnancy accommodations and flexible paid sick time.

The Worst

The 12 worst states in the country for working families are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming. None have passed a single law protecting working families since FMLA.